FISHES. 123 



not be wise to keep fish smaller ttan they are in the same 

 tank with them. Their great appetites would sooner or later 

 tempt them to devour their companions. A large dace and 

 a small Chub are so much alike that one is often mistaken 

 for the other ; but this error need not be made if it be 

 borne in mind that the rear part of a Chub's anal fin is 

 convex, while that of the dace is concave (Figs. 92 and 93). 

 The Chub is noted for its extreme quickness of sight and 

 for its power of rapidly rising and sinking in the water 

 at will. 



The depth of the body of the Chub is a httle greater than 

 the length of the head. The scales are large and thick. The 

 lateral line cm-ves slightly towards the ventral fins. The 

 head is blunt and the mouth toothless ; the Hps are very 

 leathery, ^he colour of its back is olive-brown, of its sides 

 silvery when the fish is young, but bronze-like when the fish 

 is mature. The under-pai-t of the body is silvery-white. The 

 tail is large, dark in colour, and slightly forked. The pectoral 

 fins are olive-green, anJ the ventral and anal fins bright 

 pink. This fish does not often exceed 41b. in weight. 



The Dace {Leuciscus vulgaris) (Fig. 93) is a lively, graceful, 

 and active little fish, and a great favourite. Its glittering 



Fig. 93. Dace (Leuciscus vulgaris). 



scales are very conspicuous in the aquarium. The Dace is 

 hardy and soon becomes quite tame. As an instance of the 

 hardiness of this fish, I may mention that a young pupil 

 of mine one day brought me two little Dace, not 2in. long. 

 I placed them in some water in a shallow vessel, which I 

 foolishly neglected to cover, and left the room. On returning 

 about an hour afterwards I found that both, fish had jumped 



